OUR FIRST EVENT!

BOLD HEATH BE 90

Today Pete and I completed our first BE 90 together at Bold Heath.

Dressage

Pete warmed up well for the dressage, but unfortunately as I went in to do my test he went lazy on me and he performed a lacklustre test. I was a little disappointed but not surprised to hear we scored 39.5. I know Pete can do much, much better than this and next time I will wear a pair of spurs to back up my leg when he goes lazy. I have to be careful not to use too much leg as he has a tendency to put in a cheeky buck as he doesnt like to be rushed!

Show Jumping

For some reason, I felt very nervous for the jumping, especially considering at 90cm, it was actually a step down in level for us. Pete unfortunately had fence 2 down, which to be fair was my fault as I added a stride and he got a little deep into it. He jumped the rest well though to finish on 4 faults.

Cross Country

Pete set off well on the cross country but was quite spooky and unsure so I took the long route at fence 4, the corner. He hesitated at the 1st water jump but went in and jumped out well over the pallisade. We came to the next fence, a wall with a small drop behind and unfortunately he spooked at the wall and ran past it, incurring 20 penalties. He jumped fairly well round the rest of the course but was a little bit spooky and still unsure so more practice is required for our Kelsall event! All in all this was not too bad for a debut.

CROSS COUNTRY PRACTICE

Today we took Pete to Somerford and hired the cross country schooling area to practice before we do the Bold Heath Horse Trial in 2 weeks time. Somerford is an excellent facility with lots of different types and sizes of fences to train over. I would love to use this facility more often but unfortunately finances wont allow me!!

I just tried the simple fences to build up Petes confidence over the solid fences as he is not the bravest horse.

I was very pleased with him as he learnt a lot and finished up jumping ditches, banks and even a small fence into the water. I feel he is now ready to tackle his first British Eventing competition with me.

Kelsall Hill BE90

We set off for Kelsall Hill for the second time this season, after finishing 11th at the April event. I was hopeful to improve on that position, having worked hard on our flatwork.

We arrived on a lovely bright day and went to work in for the dressage. I gave Lucy her usual 50 mins to get settled and start working properly. Lucy went in and did a nice test and I was hopeful for a low 30 score. Onto the show jumping and Lucy jumped clear which was a relief. I had heard that our dressage was 34, which was our second best score of the season and I was very pleased with this.

I went to the cross country realising that a good round here could put us within grasp of a placing. It was nerve wracking to be in this position but exciting to think all our hard work could pay off. Lucy flew round the course, really taking it on to finish clear within the time. We cooled her off and put her away before waiting for the results.

I was over the moon to see we finished 5th! A huge high to the end of the season, but unfortunately the result was tinged with sadness as I knew this was our last event together . The decision has been made for Lucy to go back to her owner to be put in foal next spring, which is sad news for me bit also exciting at the prospect of becoming a Mum!

COMBINED TRAINING QUALIFIER, South View EC, Wettenhall

Saturday 1st May 2010

On Saturday we took Lucy to our local venue, South View, to do the 90cm Combined Training Qualifier. I wasn't expecting too much as the dressage test was Novice 27, which was quite complicated with some tricky movements in it.

I had a very reasonable time of 13.07, so we got up with plenty of time to give Lucy a clean and do her plaits. We got to South View with lots of time to work her in, this was because I had ridden her on Thursday and she was in season (and with that being a bit cheeky and difficult!). I expected her to be the same so I gave us a good hour and a quarter to get settled onto the job. As it happened, she was a lot quieter and I got some lovely work from her in the warm up which was encouraging. I was a bit worried about remembering the test as I only had 3 days to learn it and I hadn't really managed to have a run through on Lucy before the day.

Lucy was lovely, really relaxed and listening to me, but when it was our turn to go into the arena she had a naughty little spook and spun around. She refused to go into the arena without a telling off from me, which wasn't a good start as it meant she went tense. I managed to get her settled a bit before we began the test, but the first half wasnt as fluent as I hoped.

She began to relax for the second half, and just as I started to think 'great, this is going well' I had a horrible blank moment in my mind, and realised I had gone wrong! The judge kindly re-directed me and I finished the test but knew I would get 2 penalties for my error.

Turns out I was right to be worried about forgetting the test, that teaches me a lesson for next time, 3 days is not long enough for me to learn a test 100%! I came out a bit upset as I thought I had messed it up for the horse, as she did try for me.

I went onto the showjumping and was determined to enjoy it as I thought I'd blown all chances of a placing. We went in and Lucy jumped well, a little hesitation at the second fence when she took her eye off it, but jumped a clear. She is getting extremely consistent at 90cms which is brilliant news.

We untacked her, gave her some hay, and went to look at the score board. I couldn't believe my eyes that I was in the top 6 after the dressage even with my error - what a great surprise! I was also shocked to see from 18 competitors that there was only 4 show jumping clears.

Lucy and I finished a brilliant 5th, with a couple of Pro riders ahead of us. The top 6 qualify for the Championships, so me and Lucy are off to the Final in September!

This horse is being amazing at the moment!!

Next Sunday we are off to Bold Heath BSJA to do the British Novice and the Scope Festival Novice qualifier as a bit of jumping practice and to jump a bit bigger as we havent jumped all that much since our break over winter.

MY FIRST EVER B.E EVENT. Kelsall Hill BE (1) BE90 competition. 17.04.2010

After a week off work, allowing me time to feel nerves/stress etc running up to the event, we headed to Kelsall Hill, a lovely venue only 20mins from home (very handy). I arrived to find I needed a number holder which I had no clue I'd need (oops) but luckily one of the tack stalls had one! (phew!). I got on and felt strangely calm (not like me!)

Lucy settled nicely for the dressage, only my second ever test on her. The ground was very dewy and I was worrying about her slipping, which she did on a few corners, so I didn't ride her as forward as i would have liked. I came out happy with Lucy's performance and that I had remembered the test, but I knew we could do better had it not been so slippy. I will definitely ask Nigel our farrier for stud holes all round next time he comes! We took Lucy back to the trailer for half an hour for a breather, and I went over to the results tent to see the score.

We got a mark of 36.5, which was better than expected! At the end of the Dressage that score left us in 22nd place out of the 50 in my section.

Mum and Deb (my Auntie) kindly got Lucy ready for me for the Show Jumping, and we went over to warm up. I did a small warm up then popped a couple of fences which she jumped great. I really felt conifident as show jumping in theory should be our best phase as this is where we have had most practice! It was a lovely flowing track and she jumped a cracking clear, albeit a bit keen and a little spooky! I was thrilled with her, I gave her lots of pats, and she had lots of polos from Mum.

Then we got ready for the XC, which was only my second one on her. My Mum and Auntie Deb were excellent grooms tacking her up ready to go! I headed down to the XC and hadn't a clue how much/little to warm up so just gave her a nice canter, and got her going off my leg and jumped the practice fence from each rein, before I was called.

We went to the start box then I realised 'this is it' as the starter counted me down. Off we went out the start box, full of determination, we got into a lovely rhythm to jump the first 7 fairly straightforward fences then onto the water. We turned the corner to the flower fence at 9 before the water and I had to ride strongly as the water and crowd caught her eye. She backed off it, but with a bit of vocal encouragement and strong legs from me she popped over and bounded through the water, ears pricked! We jumped the cart up the hill on a flyer and onto the wheelbarrow combination, two fences on a curving 4 strides which she jumped lovely through and really listening to me.

Next was the log to the corner, I made sure I had her anchored to jump the log to get her straight to the corner on a slight curving line. Once again she really listened to me and locked onto the corner, she flew over that, kicking on over the last few including the double of hay wanes on an angle for a fab CLEAR!!

I was smiling like the Cheshire Cat and patting her like mad! Mum was in tears at the finishing line with tears of relief! I got off her and walked her off but she was hardly blowing. We took her back, untacked her and swilled off.

We then took her home as we are local and came back to look at score board, and saw I was inside the time!

As I was inside the time, I knew we would finish on a score of 36.5, so we hung around as for a while it looked like we were in with a chance of a Rosette, but in the end we finished one out of the placings in 11th.

I was over the moon for our first attempt, Lucy was a superstar throughout the whole thing I could not of asked anymore of her! She will now have a couple of days chilling in the field before our next outing, a Combined Training Qualifier at South View.

I have now decided Eventing is amazing and will do more of it as I found it less stressful that SJ, everyone was so friendly, from the organisers to the other competitors. I thorougly enjoyed the whole experience and can't wait for another one!

Good Evening! This is the beginning of my brand new blog, with my first ever post!

This blog aims to chart the ups and downs of my life with my horses, from day to day life to competing in the two disciplines i love, Show Jumping and Eventing.

Please take a moment to have a browse around the site to find out about my two fabulous horses, myself, and to follow my progress in BSJA and British Eventing competitions.

Thank you for visiting!! x